If We Were Having Coffee… On January 24

Come on, sit down, and warm up. It’s snowing outside and everything’s gone quiet. My entire garden is covered with a white blanket and it looks so serene. I’ll get you a nice hot cup of coffee/tea/cocoa/mulled wine to warm your hands up, and I’ve got blankets should you still feel cold.

I’m glad you could take the time for a Weekend Coffee Share!

If we were having coffee today, I’d tell you about my studies and that it’s going well, though not as smoothly as I’d like. I’d show you my new binder and the steps I’ve taken to organise my study material. That would also explain all the highlighters, post-its, tabs and paperclips around my living room.

I’d tell you that my prof’s refusal to provide working links to documents listed as core reading in the syllabus is hindering my process somewhat. It’s taking a ridiculous amount of time to have to search the web for these documents, some of which are now behind paywalls or simply unavailable because the websites they were on were discontinued and deleted. I’ve managed to find a few now, but not all, but it’s caused serious delays I tried to avoid.

For future reference, I’m saving absolutely everything to PDF, using the Print Friendly & PDF Google Chrome Extension I recommended earlier this week. I’ve made cover sheets to put in front of every print-out, listing the title, author, publication, volume/pages, link, date retrieved and how to cite it in APA 6 Style.

If we were having coffee I’d tell you the best news I got all week: My NaNoWriMo 2013 fanfiction The Bravery of the Soldier is going global!

I received a request for permission to translate and as of yesterday, the lovely Vera (aka petergirl10 on AO3 and ff.net) is translating my story into RUSSIAN! Check out her progress of Храбрый воин (translates as Brave Warrior)!

I’d also tell you that I’m planning a few changes to this website. I want to add a few more pages, on which I will collect all the story prompts, character/setting inspirations, life hacks and study tips I share with you. That way there’ll be a handy archive. However, next to my studies, work and writing, that will be a side project to tackle at some point in the future. I should probably collect a few pictures first, otherwise that archive will end up looking pretty sorry for itself.

How’s the coffee/tea/cocoa/mulled wine? Need a refill? Because I do. I’m making myself a chococcino. It’s cappuccino, but with a spoonful of cocoa powder mixed in. Deeee-licious!

Turning serious for a minute, I’d tell you about a film currently available on BBC iPlayer called The Eichmann Show, a BBC Two production starring Martin Freeman and Anthony LaPaglia. It’s a film about the real-life trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann, the Obersturmbannführer who led the organisation and managed the logistics of the expulsion, deportation and extermination of millions of Jews and other “undesirables” during the Second World War.

The Eichmann Show is a behind-the-scenes look at the trial and how it was publicised, live on television, by producer Milton Fruchtman (played by Martin Freeman) and director Leo Hurwitz (played by Anthony LaPaglia). Throughout, real footage from the trial is shown, as well as the video evidence of the concentration camps collected during the war.

As a German, I am always wary of World War II movies, as a lot of them glorify getting to kill Germans for justice or generalise that all Germans must have been Nazi sympathisers and aware of what was going on. It gets drilled into us from a very young age that Germans were responsible for so much suffering. We’re made to watch the documentary footage of concentration camps and deportation trains again and again during our school career, graduate from books like When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit to Anne Frank’s Diary and Jacob the Liar.

I’d tell you that I think this film was respectfully done and the acting is superb, but it is hard to watch due to the real footage used throughout. I also like that except for stating his name, and during clips of the original court proceedings in which he is asked to answer by judges or lawyers, Eichmann doesn’t speak. The film focuses more on the suffering his commands caused and what an impact his trial in Israel in 1961 had and how the two people who had permission to film it all dealt with it.

I’d tell you about how thrilled I am that the 1,000 Voices Speak For Compassion project, which will take place on February 20 with the hashtag #1000Speak, has gained its 1,000th Voice today and we’re still increasing! To join this blog hop that will flood the internet with love and compassion just click the link above!

After this somewhat sobering discussion, I’d tell you that I’ve also been watching The X-Files, though I have not written another review yet. My focus has been on my studies this week, but I did revisit a few of my favourite episodes and watched them in English, as I only knew the German versions.

Like the episode Syzygy, for example. Now, I don’t know why, but I’ve always remembered the two teenage suspects. In German it lost a lot in translation, like Scully’s catchphrase for the episode: “Sure. Fine. Whatever!”

I found out that they even made T-shirts with that phrase on, and now I want one!

Last but not least, we’d probably talk about BBC’s Sherlock. Filming has started again, and I’m really peeved off wit the phenomenon called Setlock. It’s when fans (and I’m not talking one or two, we’re talking hundreds) visit filming locations to witness the filming of the show.

Images from the shoot are already floating around the internet, and no matter how carefully you try to avoid spoilers, you’ll still see them. So we already know what the characters will be wearing and that spoiled the surprise. Thank you.

It’s also got to a point where the sheer number of fans makes it much harder for the actors to work, because even takes in which something goes wrong they’ll have to do before a live audience that isn’t just crew. The amount of fans, especially when filming at the Baker Street exterior location, has forced the show runners to change the way they film and do the scenes to avoid having 300 screaming girls in the frame. Even the actors have said themselves that while they love the support of the fans, it is making their job incredibly hard.

Setlock Tweet from 2013 at North Gower Street in London, the exterior of 221b Baker Street (red awning on the right). Fans had to be kept behind barriers for the length of the block!

And that frustrates me. I’m a fan of the show, but I’d never do something that might jeopardise its future. We only get 3 episodes per season and seasons are two years apart. Who knows how many more there’ll be, with both lead actors (Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch) having won Emmy Awards last year and Benedict Cumberbatch up for an Oscar.

Filming locations are being kept secret, but someone somewhere always lets it slip that the cast and crew will be at a certain place. And the rumours go around. Fans try to deduce what the story could be, why they’re dressed like that, whether or not Sherlock Holmes and John Watson will ever get together. It’s spoiling the show for all the other fans though. The ones who want to be surprised. Who don’t want to have a year’s worth of gossip, rumours, theories and Setlock pictures so you’ll basically worked out the plot by the time the show airs. The fans like me.

So please, Setlock people: Go home. Let the actors do their jobs without distraction. We’ve waited so long for a new episode, you can wait a little longer. And it’ll be worth it just to have fresh, never before seen material air when the Special and Season 4 are being shown. Don’t spoil it for the rest of us.

Anyway. I hope you liked your coffee/tea/cocoa/mulled wine (delete as appropriate). I’ve definitely enjoyed your company and warmed up enough again to brave the snow. Just a quick trip to the shops and then I’m afraid I have a university assignment to finish which is due on Monday, but I’d like to have wrapped up by tomorrow lunchtime.

Setlock’s been around for a while now but it’s growing out of proportion.

1000 Speak sounds like such a beautiful project! I was number 774 when I signed up last week. Only found them because of you!

Yeah, the uni issue isn’t brilliant. But hey, if they can’t provide the documents I’ll search for some in my native language. After all, it’s by distance learning, a French university using mostly American stuff (for some weird reason) and as long as I’m able to read the material that should be fine. I was encouraged to find my own material, after all, and if the uni isn’t helping I just have to help myself. See whether they like it. Quite like to see them try and penalise me for not using an English source…

The uni issue is really interesting. I taught here (at an American university) for a while, and we were required to supply students with access to any materials used in class that were not in the required textbooks. Sometimes that meant scanning books and making PDFs, which was a royal pain in the ass.

Saw that the 1000 speak group passed 1000 today, so it’s really taking off–still almost a month until time for posts to go up.

That’s good to know, and quite reassuring, to be honest. I’m doing my M.A. by distance learning, and so far 8 out of 13 links provided in the first module of a course alone came back unavailable. The links are also in the syllabus. As it’s a distance learning university, we do not have set text books, as they might not be available in our countries. The professor replied to my email asking for links that “at this stage, students are encouraged to find their own resources.” Which would be fine, if I had any idea about what’s in those core documents….

Congratulations on having your work translated into Russian. That is just an amazing achievement and must feel as such. I hope you did some celebrating.

As for the Martin Freeman film. I love him. He’s cute and a great actor. I do wonder how current day Germans must feel about what happened in the war as it wasn’t their actions. I didn’t realise you were taught so strongly about it. It must be quite a difficult position to be in and I can grasp that. Though only from a certain point because I’m not German. I admire your honesty and thank you for sharing.

Martin Freeman is my favourite actor and if it wasn’t for him I might not have watched the film, though I am now glad I did. I do think it is important that we (not just Germans, everyone) never forget just how much evil humans are capable of and how much suffering they can cause. This film is actually very tactfully done. The actors tell the story around the trial, but the trial itself is told with the original footage. I’d even recommend this as an educational resource!